Monday, February 02, 2009

Using @#!$? Twitter to Make Money

What's the twitter business model?

Earlier today I wrote about the new Gamejabs service that extends twitter for its followers by making use of the ! instead of the #. At the time I suggested that symbols could be used to categorize tags - kind of a meta-meta-tag. The examples were:
  • @ for people or groups (twitter)
  • # for events (twitter)
  • ! for sports teams (Gamejabs)
  • $ for financial, investment entities
  • ? for entertainment - movies, music, television
This then turned into a money-making idea for twitter. Instead of the usual advertising or subscriptions, pay for the creation and ownership of a tag. Twitter should and can control its platform, so the value appears to be around what is being discussed and we use hashtags already. A potential model:
  • Sign-ups (@) are free.
  • Events (#) are free or paid listings by commercial organizations.
  • Sports services (!) are subscription with added functionality, a la Gamejabs.
  • Companies are definitely paid ($) and return company info - like news, stock quotes, jobs, etc.
  • Entertainment (?) are paid by movies, TV, and bands - exclusive content for followers.
What other tags can we use?

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